Job 30

1 But now [they that are] younger than I have me in derision, whose fathers I would have disdained to have set with the dogs of my flock.

Now those who are younger than I have nothing but mockery for me— these young men whose fathers I would have refused to allow to work beside the dogs of my flock.

2 Yea, whereto [might] the strength of their hands [profit] me, in whom old age was perished?

Indeed, the strength of their fathers' hands, how could it have helped me— men in whom the strength of their mature age had perished?

3 For want and famine [they were] solitary; fleeing into the wilderness in former time desolate and waste.

They were thin from poverty and hunger; they gnawed at the dry ground in the darkness of wilderness and desolation.

4 Who cut up mallows by the bushes, and juniper roots [for] their meat.

They plucked saltwort and bushes' leaves; the roots of the broom tree were their food.

5 They were driven forth from among [men], (they cried after them as [after] a thief; )

They were driven out from among people who shouted after them as one would shout after a thief.

6 To dwell in the clifts of the valleys, [in] caves of the earth, and [in] the rocks.

So they had to live in river valleys, in holes of the earth and of the rocks.

7 Among the bushes they brayed; under the nettles they were gathered together.

Among the bushes they brayed like donkeys and they gathered together under the nettles.

8 [They were] children of fools, yea, children of base men: they were viler than the earth.

They were the sons of fools, indeed, sons of nameless people! They were driven out of the land with whips.

9 And now am I their song, yea, I am their byword.

But now I have become the subject of their taunting song; I have become a byword for them.

10 They abhor me, they flee far from me, and spare not to spit in my face.

They abhor me and stand far off from me; they do not refrain from spitting in my face.

11 Because he hath loosed my cord, and afflicted me, they have also let loose the bridle before me.

For God has unstrung the string to my bow and afflicted me, and those who taunt me cast off restraint before my face.

12 Upon [my] right [hand] rise the youth; they push away my feet, and they raise up against me the ways of their destruction.

Upon my right hand rise the rabble; they drive me away and pile up against me their siege mounds.

13 They mar my path, they set forward my calamity, they have no helper.

They destroy my path; they push forward disaster for me, men who have no one to hold them back.

14 They came [upon me] as a wide breaking in [of waters: ] in the desolation they rolled themselves [upon me].

They come against me like an army through a wide hole in a city wall; in the midst of the destruction they roll themselves in on me.

15 Terrors are turned upon me: they pursue my soul as the wind: and my welfare passeth away as a cloud.

Terrors are turned upon me; my honor is driven away as if by the wind; my prosperity passes away as a cloud.

16 And now my soul is poured out upon me; the days of affliction have taken hold upon me.

Now my life is pouring out from within me; many days of suffering have laid hold on me.

17 My bones are pierced in me in the night season: and my sinews take no rest.

In the night my bones in me are pierced; the pains that gnaw at me take no rest.

18 By the great force [of my disease] is my garment changed: it bindeth me about as the collar of my coat.

God's great force has seized my clothing; it wraps around me like the collar of my tunic.

19 He hath cast me into the mire, and I am become like dust and ashes.

He has thrown me into the mud; I have become like dust and ashes.

20 I cry unto thee, and thou dost not hear me: I stand up, and thou regardest me [not].

I cry to you, God, but you do not answer me; I stand up, and you merely look at me.

21 Thou art become cruel to me: with thy strong hand thou opposest thyself against me.

You have changed and become cruel to me; with the strength of your hand you persecute me.

22 Thou liftest me up to the wind; thou causest me to ride [upon it], and dissolvest my substance.

You lift me up to the wind and cause it to drive me along; you throw me back and forth in a storm.

23 For I know [that] thou wilt bring me [to] death, and [to] the house appointed for all living.

For I know that you will bring me to death, to the house appointed for all the living.

24 Howbeit he will not stretch out [his] hand to the grave, though they cry in his destruction.

However, does no one reach out with his hand to beg for help when he falls? Does no one in trouble call out for help?

25 Did not I weep for him that was in trouble? was [not] my soul grieved for the poor?

Did not I weep for him who was in trouble? Did I not grieve for the needy man?

26 When I looked for good, then evil came [unto me: ] and when I waited for light, there came darkness.

When I hoped for good, then evil came; when I waited for light, darkness came instead.

27 My bowels boiled, and rested not: the days of affliction prevented me.

My heart is troubled and does not rest; days of affliction have come on me.

28 I went mourning without the sun: I stood up, [and] I cried in the congregation.

I have gone about like one who was living in the dark, but not because of the sun; I stand up in the assembly and cry for help.

29 I am a brother to dragons, and a companion to owls.

I am a brother to jackals, a companion of ostriches.

30 My skin is black upon me, and my bones are burned with heat.

My skin is black and falls away from me; my bones are burned with heat.

31 My harp also is [turned] to mourning, and my organ into the voice of them that weep.

Therefore my harp is tuned for songs of mourning, my flute for the singing of those who wail.